BALTIMORE -- First place was on the line Monday night near the Inner Harbor, and while this season is so young with at least 15 games still to play it is never too early for the Baltimore Ravens to consider the stakes.

This is a Super Bowl-or-bust mission for the Ravens, maybe the last run for graybeards like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. And another try for the likes of Joe Flacco and Ray Rice.

Hello Cincinnati Bengals, the pesky cousins in the A-North coached by former Ravens D-coordinator Marvin Lewis.

These are usually close, punch-'em-in-the-face jobs. Kind of like the matchups against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but without as much venom. It was a fitting way to start this grueling campaign. And when the Bengals made it a four-point game, 17-13 in the third quarter, it was really time to get busy.

Done.

The Ravens routed the Bengals, 44-13, to demonstrate that yes, the nail-biting loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC title game is in the rear view mirror.

"It's the first game," said all-pro safety Ed Reed, one of the heroes of the night with a 34-yard TD off an interception return that broke open the game in the third quarter. "We're just getting started on this journey."

As he met the media, sporting a T-shirt bearing the face of Art Modell, the former Ravens owner who passed last week, Reed grumbled about things to fix, such as communication between the defenders.

"It's good to get the first one under your belt," he said, "without it costing us with those big communication errors."

The smash-up included a defining third-quarter sequence that demonstrated why the Ravens are in the conversation as perhaps the most complete team in the NFL.

Flacco jump-started an 89-yard drive with a 23-yard completion to Dennis Pitta off a play-action bootleg waggle, then finished it with a floating, alley-oop lob to the 6-4 tight end for a 10-yard touchdown.

After a three-and-out, Flacco found Pitta for 25 yards off a waggle, then located Anquan Boldin with a rope throw, low and inside, for 10 yards on a sideline comeback route. Rhythm was in the works, leading to a 40-yard field goal by Justin Tucker.

Tucker, the rookie free agent from Texas, replaced Pro Bowl kicker Billy Cundiff, a surprising training camp cut who missed a chip-shot field goal that could have sent the AFC title game into overtime.

More tests await, but so far, so good. Tucker hit all three of his field goal tries.

Flacco, by the way, was pulled midway through the fourth quarter with a rollicking 128.4 passer rating. He completed 21-of-29 passes for 299 yards, with two TDs and no picks and was razor sharp operating out of the no-huddle offense that provides Baltimore with a new dimension to its emerging offense.

On Monday night, Flacco sure resembled the "elite" quarterback he has proclaimed himself to be.

"Sure he is," said his coach, John Harbaugh. "But the main thing is that he's our quarterback, and that's good enough for us."

How in the world will they survive without T-Sizzle, reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Terrell Suggs?

Well, so far, so good. Baltimore sacked Andy Dalton four times, and Reed entered the NFL record book with his theft-turned-touchdown. Reed surpassed Rod Woodson's NFL mark for most career interception return yards, now at 1,497 and counting.

Suggs will be out of the mix for several more weeks as he aims for a second-half return from a torn Achilles tendon, but as he watched from the sidelines the heat-seeking linebacker had to be assured that his defense is capable of holding down the fort.

"Can you replace a Terrell Suggs? Absolutely not," said Lewis, who had a game-high 14 tackles. "But can you get a young Paul Kruger playing better? Can you get a younger (Courtney) Upshaw to start playing up to his level of play? That's what we did tonight."

Of course, it's still early. But with each of the other AFC North teams losing in Week 1, the Ravens have sole possession of first place.

They are indeed the team to chase.

For the third consecutive season, the Ravens opened the season with a big victory against an expected AFC playoff contender.

Yet Harbaugh doesn't want to hear that, with a short week to prepare for Sunday's trip to Philadelphia.

"Two straight years, we've gone the second game and we've lost," Harbaugh said. "That's the stat we'll concern ourselves with right now."

No wonder Lewis was in the locker room right after the game ended, talking about the 24-hour rule. For a team pondering the ultimate stakes, perspective is essential.

"When we watch that tape," Harbaugh said. "There's going to be a lot of things that we don't like."

At the same time, the game tape will reveal so much that is worth repeating.